Chapter 19 – Sara
Ialmost told him.
The moment was heartbreakingly beautiful.
The man who shouldn’t be out of bed came to me at sunset, trying to break the damn window because he was desperate to be with me.
I ached to turn him away. But a fresh round of nausea sent me running back into the house last night, and I didn’t want that to be how he found out our story was changing.
I had a plan.
But first, I needed a coffee. Something sickly sweet and gooey. I stepped into the Salted Biscoff Café, waving to Ivry who’d been working here since high school.
We hadn’t had a chance to catch up since she’d lost herself in the haunted maze the first night I came to town. Dio…. That felt like ages ago.
“Sara! Your makeup is amazing,” she gushed, wrapping her arms around me. “A skeleton, how spooky! I love it.”
“Thanks. You don’t look so bad yourself, Rory Gilmore.”
Ivry chuckled, probably loving the fact that I recognized her favorite TV character.
After breaking the hug, I placed my order with her. “One frost on the pumpkin, please. Extra caramel.”
Ivry slid her hands to my shoulders and gave me a serious look. “Should you have espresso?”
I jerked back. “What?”
She rolled her eyes. “Your mom told me!”
“Oh,” I laughed. “Well, who else did she tell?”
Ivry tipped her head back and forth. “Just a few people.”
“So, the whole Cove knows?”
“No!” Ivry whispered. “Just your friends.”
“Okay. That’s…okay.” I grinned. “And yes, I intend to continue the vice. We’re Italian, Ives. Espresso runs through our veins.”
“True!” She gave me another hug, then dashed behind the counter to begin the drink.
I paid before going to wait near where she worked. “How have things been?”
“Oh! I got engaged.” She flashed the rock on her finger before tipping the container and squeezing a generous amount of gooey caramel into my cup.
“I’m blind!” I’m stunned. “Wait? The guy you wanted me to come to dinner and meet? The one who tried to kill Don Lucian? Why am I blanking on his name!”
I almost rubbed my forehead, remembered I had paint on it, reached to adjust my glasses instead, and then realized I’d opted for contacts. I dropped my hand to the counter’s edge, my attempt at fidgeting defeated.
Ivry cackled. She brushed a hand over her pixie haircut. “His name is Demyan, and he’s staying at the Airbnb next door until we tie the knot. I’m thinking a snowy wedding. So as soon as those flakes appear, you’ll need a bridesmaid dress!”
That was the problem with being a hermit writer. Everyone else’s lives went on, and when I resurfaced, I realized how much I’d missed. I made a mental note to come into town on Saturdays to catch up. Besides, I missed the quaint atmosphere of this place. There was nowhere else like San Pietro Cove.
Ivry once said the town was like Stars Hollow if it was run by psychopaths. She couldn’t have been more spot on with that analogy.
“You going to any Halloween parties tonight?” Ivry asked as she handed me my drink.
I shook my head. “Nope. I’m trick-or-treating.”
“Good for you! Brush your teeth after you eat all that candy,” she called out as I began to walk to the door.
I tossed a wave over my shoulder—and nearly ran into a customer barreling through the door. “Oops! Sorry—Lucian.”
The name was bile on my tongue.
The don gave me a frigid look, moving to hold the door open.
I stepped through but then stopped to let out a menacing threat. “If you ever meddle with my life again, I’ll make you the villain in my books.”
Lucian’s nostrils flared. “Sara, I—”
“Save it.” I held up a hand. “Cam and I are together. You need to be happy for your friend…or else.”
His voice turned strangled. “I am happy. I just…fuck, Sara, he’s different. Are you really sure you want to spend the rest of your life with the guy who pulls the trigger around here?”
I took a deep breath. “That’s what people like you don’t understand. Cam has layers. Deep down, he’s not a cold-blooded killer. Any blood he spills comes leaks out of people who deserve it.”
Those black eyes softened. Understanding flashed over his face. “You really do understand him, don’t you.”
“Yes.” I squared my shoulders and pushed my glasses up my nose. “I do.”
“Then go put him out of his misery,” Lucian grumbled. “He’s been moping about his place all morning. I couldn’t even get him to come on a run with me.”
“I’m headed there now!” I waved the cup in his face. “I just needed some fuel.”
Lucian rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath. “Che scifo.”
“It’s not disgusting,” I grumped and began the walk from the quaint little shops to the residential streets.
The wind kicked up some leaves, blowing them across the sidewalk.
Tonight, would be cold, but the houses were decked out in a ghoulish promise.
I absently wondered where people stored those twenty-foot skeletons.
The blow-up jack-o’-lanterns made me smile.
But the best was the lawn with cats prowling around the feet of a hag.
She mechanically stirred her pot, promising elixirs that could grant a wish.
But I knew better.
Those spells always came with a price.
Cam’s house was the only one on the street that wasn’t decorated. It made me sad to see. A lonely monster with no one to love him. What he didn’t know, was that it would change. Tomorrow was November 1st. We would put up Christmas decorations and hang three stockings over his fireplace.
“Does he even have a mantel?” I muttered as I stepped on his front porch.
The doorbell echoed inside, summoning the specter.
Excitement almost made me forget.
I set my coffee down, pulling the fabric ghost bag from my pocket before losing the jacket. My bare arms made me shiver, but I was in my costume and ready the moment he opened the door.
“Trick-or-treat!” I sang out.
Cam blinked. Those sunset brown eyes looked me up and down as if he couldn’t believe I was really here. Or maybe he didn’t recognize me under all the skeletal paint on my face.
Those hungry eyes flashed to mine.
He knows me. There was no hiding from this monster. No disguise would ever conceal me.
“Sara—”
“No, let me,” I interrupted him. “You’ve always been part of my story, Camillo Antonio Ravello. And I’m sorry how things ended last night.”
I didn’t finish the speech.
The monster took one step and wrapped his good arm around me, crushing me to his body. Something wet and cold seeped into my sneaker, but the next second, his mouth was on mine.
The kiss started gently. I felt him holding back. Maybe he didn’t think this was real. Or maybe he didn’t want to scare me. I wasn’t having it.
I bit his lip, and when he groaned, I swallowed the sound. My arms wrapped around his neck and kissed him back with everything I had. I poured myself into the kiss. I promised him that we were good. That this was the beginning of our happily-ever-after.
Cam turned around, leaving my spilled drink on the porch, and kicked the door shut behind him. He walked us into the sparsely furnished, not decorated living room, but before he could drop me on the sofa and spread my body under him, I broke the kiss.
“You didn’t say anything about my costume!”
Gold flecks danced in the brown of his eyes. “You’re a skeleton.”
I leaned back, pulling the shirt taut. “Read the message.”
He humored me, glancing down—
And froze.
“This was why I sent you away last night,” I rushed to say. “I’ve been planning this costume all week! And I knew if you came inside the cabin, I would just end up telling you.”
I held my breath. Please don’t be mad.
But I knew him. I trusted my monster. This man who loved me with his whole heart didn’t flinch at the tiny skeleton imprinted on my stomach.
“This means your shadow daddy title has a double meaning now,” I whispered, smoothing my hands over his short hair.
Emotion choked his voice. “Da vero?”
“It’s true,” I smirked. “We forgot to use protection, and well….”
His mouth was on mine once more. This kiss was hungry. Full of passion. I snaked my arms around the monster’s neck and devoured him.
But he was gentle when he set me on the sofa.
Pulling back, he knelt in front of me. “I swear to you, angel, you’ll never regret this.”
I ran my knuckles down his cheek. “There was never going to be regret between us, just a romance that finally crossed in the stars.”
He pressed his smile against mine.
And they all lived happily ever after, sang the squirrel in my head.
THE END